


The Adventures of Jemma in MarvelLand

by p0cketw0tch



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-01
Updated: 2014-09-10
Packaged: 2018-01-21 12:09:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1549985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/p0cketw0tch/pseuds/p0cketw0tch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chapter One: In Which Jemma Simmons is Young and Excited and Unknowingly Stumbles upon Something She Really Shouldn’t Have</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Which Jemma Simmons is Young and Excited and Unknowingly Stumbles upon Something She Really Shouldn’t Have

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TinyBat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyBat/gifts).



Jemma practically bounced as she explored the sleek corridors of the SHIELD facility research division. It was so exciting! She had finally graduated from the Academy, would finally be allowed to work on the high level projects at SHIELD. Who knew what mysteries lie behind each of these doors, what miracles of science awaited discovery? She paused and reached into her pocket to stare at her new badge for the hundredth time that day, admiring the black leather and the stylized metal eagle seal. She was now Agent Jemma Simmons. Her brow furrowed momentarily as her eye caught a small gray circle in the corner of her badge than marked her as unapproved for field work. She was still a little miffed that Fitz had passed all the field tests and she had not. Jemma shook her head and dismissed the failure from her mind, too excited about being a proper agent of SHIELD to stay down. Of course, she thought, peering around guiltily, it was hardly dignified SHIELD behavior, skipping down the hall like a little girl. But it was hardly as if there was anyone around to see her late at night. She had been assigned a temporary room on base like all the other new agents, but she had been too keyed up to sleep and had decided to go exploring.

The research section of her new home was proving to be quite the labyrinth. Jemma wasn’t exactly sure where she was anymore, but she wasn’t too worried; the SHIELD assigned bunks were all on the top floor of the mostly underground facility so she could just head upwards when she needed to. She was having too much fun for now. Through the lab door window to her left she could just catch a glimpse of some sort of tentacle creature floating in blue a viscous looking blue liquid. In the lab door window to her right it she could see the schematics for some sort of ray gun. Fitz was going to have a field day with those.

She rounded the corner and came to a halt in surprise. Up ahead a door had been left open. She hesitated for a moment, not wanting to disturb whoever was working. But, she reasoned, a peek wouldn’t hurt, would it? She stepped carefully towards the door and peered around the frame.

It was a standard SHIELD lab, except for the modified medical exam chair in the center of the room. The only person in the room was a man sitting in the exam chair. He was dressed black leather and had the musculature of an operations agent. Most agents she had seen, however, tended to look sleek and professional. This man seemed as if he hadn’t seen a shower in days. His hair was tangled, his face scruffy and unshaven, and there were slight smudges around his eyes.

He was also was staring directly at her.

“Hello!” Jemma straightened and stepped into the room, smiling sheepishly at the stranger. “I’m sorry to have bothered you; I didn’t know anyone else was up this late.”

The man continued to stare at her, expressionlessly. She shifted from one foot to the other, smile dimming slightly. It was then that she noticed his arm. It was resting on a small table next to his chair. Tools lay scattered around and there were a number of wires attached to the man’s arm leading to several monitors. Most startling, however, was the fact that it was completely made out of metal.

“Oh, how fascinating,” She said, forgetting her nerves. She darted forward for a better look. The gears of the arm appeared to be covered in a series of ridged panels. One panel had been removed and she could see the complex machinery below. “Fitz is going to love this. And it’s shaped just like an arm of flesh as well! Even the muscle groups are beautifully sculpted.” She traced her eyes up over the metal curves of biceps, triceps and deltoids. “It appears to connect directly to the nerves in your shoulder. How well does it move?”

There was a long silence.

“I am within operational parameters”

The man’s voice was rusty, as if he hadn’t spoken for some time. Jemma glanced up and to smile at the man attached to the prosthetic arm.

“More of the strong, silent type, then? This really is amazing. Just think of what this all means for the world of prosthetic. It’s fascinating that you even have proper finger movement. Hands are really quite complicated.”

She moved over to one of the monitors and was delighted to see a partial schematic of the arm itself.

“Fitz and I might actually be assigned to work on your arm, you know. It really would be the perfect combination of our skill sets. This really is amazing.”

As she stared at the screen, however, Jemma found herself stifling yawns. She glanced at her wristwatch and was surprised to see that it was already three in the morning.

“I really had better be going to bed or I am going to be useless in the morning.” She smiled again at the man in the chair. “It’s my first day you know. I really should know better than to stay up this late, but it’s rather exciting being here.” She patted his arm, unbothered by the silence. “It’s been wonderful to meet you. I really do hope I get assigned to work with you.”

She wandered out the door with a final smile for the man to try and find her way back to her own room. Fortunately, there was a stairwell across the hall. As the door to the stairwell closed behind her, she glanced behind to see an older blond man in a three piece suit step into the room she had just exited. Perhaps she should turn back to ask whoever it was for more concise directions. She really was rather knackered and chances were that he would be more talkative than the metal-armed man.

She hesitated for a moment and then turned back towards the stairs. He had been well dressed, and was probably very high ranked. She didn’t want to give a bad first impression and getting lost in the middle of the night on her first day here was hardly a sign of a competent agent.

It only took her about twenty minutes to find her room. She collapsed onto her bed, having shed her clothes on the floor in a rather atypically messy manner. All the adrenaline of the day had drained away, leaving her feeling blurry and spent. As she drifted off, her last thoughts were of the man in the room, the metal arm, and all the exciting discoveries that awaited her.


	2. In Which Jemma is Flustered, There is Very Little Bucky, and No Mysteries are Solved

“Simmons, wake up!”

It seemed like only moments after she had tumbled into bed. Someone was shaking her shoulder. Jemma grumbled, but cracked open one eye to see Fitz standing over her with an exasperated look on his face.

“You’ve gone and stayed up all night, haven’t you? You do this every new semester; I shouldn’t be surprised you’d work yourself up enough not to sleep before our first day on the job. Come on then, we’ve got enough time to get some tea at the cafeteria before orientation”

Orientation. Orientation! Today was their first day as Official Agents. She sat up, brushing her hair out of her face, any last vestiges of sleep chased away by her excitement.

“Oh, like you were any better,” she snarked as she grabbed the clothes she had set aside the previous night, before her midnight adventure. She ushered Fitz out of the room and continued speaking through the door as she changed. “Or have you forgotten what happened when Doctor MacLain came to speak at the Academy? You were so excited about his research into the use of adamantium in a generator that you stayed up for three days working on those blue prints to show him and ended up crashing halfway through the lecture. You’re lucky I managed to wake you up before he noticed your snoring”

Hair and clothes in reasonable order, she joined him in the hallway, frowning as she turned to lock the door behind her.

“Fitz, you didn’t pick the lock, did you?”

He blinked, surprised by the question. “What? Of course I did. I was hardly going to let you be late on our first day. Why are you so surprised? I pick the lock on your door all the time and this one is hardly more advanced than the dorm locks at the Acadamy.”

“Yes, but that was at the academy. We’re SHIELD agents now; you could get in serious trouble!”

“Don’t be ridiculous, it’s not like I’m going anywhere I’m not supposed to.” Fitz responded, nudging her away from the door and in the direction of the cafeteria. “Besides, it’s not like you’re going to report me.”

Jemma rolled her eyes, but allowed herself to be propelled forward.

.

SHIELD base Epsilon consisted of three radiating wings for the research, communications, and operations respectively, with a command center below the communications wing. There were three cafeterias, one in each of the three wings, although only the cafeteria in the communications wing was open twenty-four seven. As she and Fitz walked into the research cafeteria, she saw that there was only a small café open, manned by a single barista. There was only about half a dozen people scattered about the tables. SHIELD scientists, as a whole, were more of the night owl type.

As Fitz collected tea and muffins for the both of them, Jemma looked around for someone to join. There weren’t very many people here, but she wanted to start things out on the right foot. Once she and Fitz had stopped fighting and started working together at the academy, people had become reluctant to break in on their conversations. She and Fitz often got caught up in their own projects and disagreements and people found it rather intimidating. And while Fitz would probably be happy with that status quo, Jemma actually wanted to make some new friends amongst their future coworkers.

At a table near the empty Subway was a stout woman with large, bushy black hair, dark skin, and a truly impressive number of freckles. She looked to be in her twenties, was wearing a lab coat, and seemed awake enough to appreciate conversation this early in the morning. Perfect. As soon as Fitz approached her, Jemma hooked an elbow around the arm carrying the muffins and began towing him towards the table. Fitz rolled his eyes, but allowed himself to be dragged towards the table.

The woman jumped slightly as they dropped into the two chairs across the table. Jemma gave her a friendly smile.

“Hello! This is our first day in this particular facility and I you seemed a little more awake than anyone else right now.” She pointed towards Fitz who did the same, “Fitz, engineering.”

“ Simmons, biochemistry.”

The women quirked an eyebrow and then grinned, “Allison Henson, Microbiology. I take it you two are the wonder twins I’ve heard so much about. You two are going to be in the lab across from mine. Maybe you’ll be assigned to my team, though rumor has it you might actually get to pick your project.”

“I’m sure your project is quite fascinating. What are you working on that could use both an engineer and a biolochemist?” Jemma asked.

“We’re working to find a better way of collecting and analyzing samples and materials in difficult to reach places. A sort of mobile lab that can go where human can’t easily reach.”

“Really?” Fitz leaned forward “What apparatus are you using to transport the mobile lab? Have you considered using small animals such as-“

“Fi-itz, not the monkey idea.”

“Yes, monkeys! They are very intelligent creatures, you know, and-“

“Information gathering animal projects have never worked. Just look at the Acoustic Kitty project-“

“Please, they were trying to train a cat, hardly the most cooperative of animals it’s like comparing apples and screwdrivers-“

They were jolted out of the age old argument by a burst of laughter from across the table. Jemma turned back towards their fellow scientist, mentally scolding herself. This was exactly the kind of alienating behavior she wanted to avoid.

“I take it this is an old argument?”

Jemma smiled, glad that Henson didn’t seem too put off by their rudeness. “Only since our first week working together. And it probably isn’t going to go anywhere new. So, regardless of the viability of simians as lab transportation, what have you done so far?”

As the conversation went on, first on the mobile lab and then on to other projects in the nearby labs, Jemma’s mind wandered to the man from the previous night. From what she had seen of the arm’s specs, the man had full fine motor control of each finger. It was quite astonishing; the human hand was a very delicate piece of machinery that was far more difficult to replicate than most people realized. She wondered how, exactly, it connected to his nerves. Everything she had seen in mainstream neuroprosthetics was decades behind what would be required for a fully functional mechanical arm. She and Fitz had been given access to more SHIELD research than most students while still at the academy but nothing she had seen had even hinted at this level of technology. Even if it was a restricted secret, the research to create something like that should have sparked off dozens of spin off projects. Perhaps SHIELD had found the arm somewhere.

She was interrupted from her thoughts when an alarm went off on Fitz’s watch, who smiled apologetically at Henson and started to rise.

“That’s us. We’d best get going, Simmons, or we’re going to be late for orientation.”

Henson gave them a wry smile and a wave. “Have fun with all the paperwork. Agent Jackson will probably bring you by the lab at some point.”

-

Eight hours later and Jemma was sitting on the floor in a corner watching the other new hires mill about. There were about a dozen of them, most from the Communication or Operations Academies. She vaguely recognized two others from SciTech Academy, but her earlier resolve to try and make friends was put on hold for now. Jemma was feeling rather worn-both from the late night before and from the rather dull nature of orientation itself. Henson had not been wrong about the paper work. Most of the day had been filled with forms interspersed with presentations on benefits, proper conduct, and company pride She imagined it was the same redundant information worked over on the first day at any job, though as a top secret organization, SHIELD probably had at least ten times as many confidentiality agreements for them to sign. It was even more ridiculous when you considered that everyone learned about all of this at the Academy, but you couldn’t have a large organization without bureaucracy.

A shadow fell over her, and she looked up to see Fitz with two cups of coffee. He handed her one and plopped down beside her, giving her shoulder a friendly nudge.

“Rather feels more like we’re school children at recess than proper government agents, doesn’t it?” he joked.

She gave him a tired smile. “It does feel a bit like first day syllabus, though at least I don’t need to worry about anyone stealing my crayons.”

“I don’t know, that ginger muscle head from Operations was eyeing your writing utensils a bit too much.”

“I think he was rather more interested in eyeing me than my pencils. I’m not entirely opposed either-don’t make that face! Some of us actually want to have a social life. Besides, you should be grateful I’m willing to get out of the lab. I get you plenty of numbers, don’t I? Really, I’m not sure you would have even dated while we were at the Academy if it weren’t for me.”

“Hey! I don’t need you to pick up girls for me,” Fitz sputtered. “I’ll have you know that girls are interested in me just fine without your help. They think I’m cute.”

She patted his leg reassuringly. “You are cute. Adorable even.”

He scrunched his nose at the descriptor, but let it go. They sat in companionable silence for a moment before Fitz spoke again.

“What did you think of the projects Henson mentioned? Did any of them catch your eye?” he asked

“A few did look interesting, but what I’m most curious about is something I saw the other night. One of the labs was open and there was the most fascinating-“

“al-Abadi, FitzSimmons, Tinsley!”

Jemma looked towards the door of the room, startled. The speaker was nearly two meters tall and broad shouldered with prematurely snow white hair. He beckoned towards the door, and started to walk down the hall as soon as she and Fitz and the two others she had recognized reached him.

“I’m afraid the paperwork isn’t quite finished, but the rest of orientation is department specific. I’m sure you’ve signed enough to make your head spin so I figured we could do the ten-cent tour before flooding you with anymore. I’m Agent Jackson, supervising agent of all the level 5 research projects at this base.”

As he spoke, Agent Jackson strode at a brisk pace, pointing at various rooms. Jemma had to jog slightly to keep up. Despite his large stature and loud demeanor, Agent Jackson didn’t come off as harsh: merely larger than life.

“I’m sure that you were all shown the cafeteria on the ground floor and are familiar with your own bunks. Here on the first sub level we have a full gym and shooting range you folks will be using to train for any field reviews. There’s a larger gym in the operations wing that technically you can all access but don’t bother going over there unless you are serious about using the equipment. I’m sure you four are smarter than that, but we have had some problems in the past with people gawking at the high level Special Ops agents.” He gave them all a sardonic look. “They really don’t appreciate it.”

Agent Jackson led them down through the building, pointing out various scientists and machinery, coming to a stop in front of an office at the end of a hall on the third sublevel.

“Sublevel two and three are all the level 5 laboratories. This is my office, but most of the time I’ll be working in one of the labs on which ever project needs it. Sublevel four has some of the more sensitive projects. You’ll only need to access it if you’re assigned one of said projects. There are a few doors leading below that but everything below sublevel five is clearance level 8 and above only. The doors won’t even open without a level 8 ID so it shouldn’t be a problem. A few of the projects seem to be at good stopping points so you can look at a few projects before I have to saddle you with the rest of your orientation paperwork.”

It wasn’t until they were in one of the labs and a few scientists were doing a demonstration of the current non lethal weapons research that the significance of Agent Jackson’s words hit Jemma. Everything below sublevel five was clearance level 8 only. She may have gotten a little turned around the night before but she had definitely been lower than sublevel four when she had stumbled across the man with the mechanical arm. Jemma felt her whole body pale with shock and then flush. She hadn’t even been an agent for a full day before she had completely broken protocol and broken into a level 8 only section. Level eight was for people like the Black Widow. SHIELD was going to think she was some sort of spy. SHIELD was going to have the Black Widow kill her.

Jemma realized she was getting a bit hysterical and tried to calm down. No one was going to kill her. It was a simple mistake and it wasn’t like she had been dragged off and interrogated this morning. It was likely that no one even realized she had been down there. She glanced around guiltily, desperately trying to will the heat away from her face. No one was looking at her but she knew that if anyone glanced in her direction, they would be able to see her mortified blush.

By the time they had wound up to Henson’s lab on the second sublevel, Jemma’s skin felt cool again and no one had even given her so much as a second glance. Jemma sighed in relief.

-

Fitz stretched with a groan. “Finally! The last of the papers filled. I’m not sure if I ever want to see my own name again.” They had been sitting in Fitz bunk filling out the last of the forms before supper.

Jemma dropped her own pen, finished as well, and flopped back on the bed where she had been perched. “We can dream of the day, Fitzy dearest, but you know the labs come with weekly reports.”

“Kill my hopes why don’t you. What was it you were saying earlier today about something you saw last night?”

She flushed. “Oh, it was nothing. I was just thinking about something I dreamed last night and got confused.”

Fitz gave her a level stare. “Jemma, you’re a terrible liar. ‘Fess up.”

She fidgeted for a moment and then sighed. It wasn’t like Fitz was going to turn her in. “Well, it was rather dark last night and I couldn’t sleep, as you know, and so I went wondering and someone must have left the door open and there were so many interesting labs and… I may have accidently broken into a level 8 only room.”

Fitz stared in disbelief. “And you were scolding me for picking a simple dorm bunk this morning! Jemma you could have been fired or worse. How am I supposed to navigate SHIELD without you?”

“I know, I know! But I don’t think anyone has noticed and if they haven’t said anything yet, I don’t think anyone is going to.”

“That’s what you get for being too adventurous, Simmons.” He poked her in the ribs. “Come on, let’s go get some food and then you should get some sleep. Actually sleep this time, no wandering off in the night.”

She let him leverage her to her feet and followed him out the door. She was no longer panicked, but as they walked she resolved to keep an eye out for the strange man, both to ask for his discretion and to thank him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to include the next scene with Bucky but this felt like a natural breaking point. Those scenes are now shifted to the next chapter, which is about halfway written. Thanks to thecoolcheryl for editing.


End file.
